Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 603,876 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 61,430 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.30% of NetApp worth $70,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.
NetApp Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $2.93 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $80.00. 684,333 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,081,608. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.80. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $16.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31.
NetApp Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. NetApp's payout ratio is 38.52%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $129.07.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on NTAP
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.
NetApp Profile
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Free Report)
NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.
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